Summary: Draco and Hermione attend a ten year Hogwarts reunion after both creating very public lives. However, it's a bit of a shock to everyone when it turns out the two are more connected than whatever rubbish Rita Skeeter likes to print.
"—gone until Monday morning," Hermione said into her mobile just as Draco apparated into the entryway. She jumped and gave him a small scowl, ignoring Patty's continuous scolding on the other end of the phone.
"Hello, love," he whispered, pressing a short kiss to her lips before slipping past and going further into the Manor.
Patty was in the middle of reminding Hermione what she would have waiting for her should she take Sunday off, but Hermione was rather tired of hearing the lady's voice and tried to be as polite as she could when cutting her off.
"Your office will be the first place I stop by," Hermione promised. Patty inhaled sharply, but Hermione continued before she could say anything. "Please let the Prime Minister know I will be in at precisely nine o'clock in the morning to discuss the arrangements necessary."
"Now, I can't promise that—"
"Thank you, Patty," Hermione said. Patty sighed and Hermione could just imagine the small smile the older woman was sure to be struggling against.
"Of course, dear," Patty replied, "Enjoy your reunion."
With that, Hermione hung up her mobile and went to find where Draco had disappeared to. It really was a nuisance when the only place in the Manor that got quality cell service was the entryway, but sometimes it was a handy excuse. Having Draco apparate only a metre away from her, however, was not handy in the slightest and something she regularly scolded him for. At least now Patty was used to the sound over the phone.
Draco was, as she'd expected, rummaging around in the kitchen. It hadn't taken long to find him and she was not surprised to see him with half of a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth as he summoned the cookie jar from the top shelf.
"You're not very sneaky," she said, effectively startling him and watching the cookie jar crash to the ground. Draco scowled at her and repaired the jar, taking one cookie in defiance before throwing the rest away.
"I wasn't trying to be sneaky," he told her, finishing his first cookie and starting on his floor cookie. "I was trying to enjoy some cookies."
"That I purposely hid."
Draco shrugged and Hermione rolled her eyes. The cookies were leftover from a night of insomnia earlier that week so Hermione didn't particularly care if Draco made them disappear. In fact, the quicker he ate them, the better. Part of the reason she'd hid them was so she wouldn't have to remember why she'd been so awake to make them in the first place.
"How's Patty, by the way?" Draco asked, snaking his arm around her waist when she moved to hide the cookie jar again. She sent the jar floating up to its usual hiding place and leaned against Draco.
"As wonderful as ever," Hermione replied. Draco grinned and quickly kissed her forehead before letting her go. "She's not happy about me taking the entire weekend off—"
"You deserve the break."
"—but I think she'll come around," Hermione finished. Draco pulled out some leftover food from the previous night and offered her a plate. She nodded and watched him split the little that remained before handing her one plate and sending a fork floating her way.
"You know, I think she'd like Hogwarts," Draco mused. Hermione snorted, covering her face as she did so and Draco grinned. Before he took a bite of food, he said, "She'd especially love Peeves."
"She already hates when you apparate around her," Hermione reminded him, making Draco's grin only grow.
Draco was no stranger to Patty and her unfortunate distrust towards magic and magic-users, but that didn't stop him from (literally) popping by from time to time. Sometimes Hermione worried he'd somehow do something that would make her tell the muggle Prime Minister to cease all communication with the wizarding world. Patty may only be an assistant, but she was Hermione's primary contact with the muggle Minister and Hermione preferred it if her contact didn't fear her.
"She'd love Hogwarts," Draco repeated. Hermione wasn't going to argue as she knew he was only teasing, but she did roll her eyes. Draco had been quietly concerned about returning to their old school for the past week and a half and Hermione knew him well enough to know that this was his way of coping.
"We don't have to go for the whole weekend, Draco," she said. Draco gave her a look but she didn't look away. After a couple of seconds, he dropped his gaze down to his food and Hermione moved to stand beside him.
"I don't know why I'm not excited about it," Draco murmured, leaning against her ever so slightly.
In reality, they both knew why he wasn't particularly thrilled about visiting, but Hermione knew she didn't need to say it. Lots of things had changed in the ten years since the War and their last year of school. One of those things being Hermione was no longer connected to Harry and Ron. Of course, she saw them in the papers whenever they solved an Auror case in France, but it wasn't the same as it had been. In fact, she wasn't even sure she'd told Harry or Ron she'd gotten married. She'd been so busy the past four years helping Draco with his company while also working for both the muggle and wizarding Ministries, she couldn't recall telling her friends about her engagement even. As it was, both their engagement and wedding had been extremely private affairs. Only a handful of people actually knew they'd gotten married and that was how they preferred it with the way their lives were.
* * * * *
As they left the manor the next morning, Draco was no longer the only one worrying about what the next two days would be like. He seemed to pick up on Hermione's worry too because he didn't suggest apparating right out of the house or using the Floo. Instead, they took their time walking to the end of the drive and stood outside the gates for a few minutes.
"You're supposed to give the pep talk," Draco told her. Hermione glanced back at the manor as the gates shut and tightened her hold on her travel bag. "We can arrive separately," Draco said quietly, drawing her attention back to him, "If that's what you're worried about."
Hermione's face softened at the distress she could see on his face and she took a step closer to him. Reaching up, she gently cupped his face and made him look at her. She knew he was worried about what people would say when he walked into Hogwarts again; the way they might still blame him for Dumbledore's death or think he still adhered to the Death Eater's way of thinking. Several days ago, he'd told her to go without him, but after much insistence, she'd convinced him to go anyway.
"All we have to do is get through the first half," she reminded him. The hardest part would be when people discovered they were married, but if they could just get to see their friends and catch up, they could pretend people wouldn't be whispering behind their backs for the next two days. "Some people may still be small-minded," she said, "But you've built a company and rewritten your life. They don't matter."
Draco smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her. One of his hands reached up and tangled in her hair while her hands continued cupping his face. Before he pulled away entirely, he pressed a kiss to her nose, her cheek, and finally her forehead.
"I'm more worried about what they'll say about you," he told her. Hermione frowned and pulled back just enough she could clearly see his face. "A successful witch like you was probably blackmailed into marrying Death Eater Malfoy," he said. While he smiled a little to show it was a joke, Hermione knew it was something that was really bothering him.
"I don't care what they'll say, Draco," she said. If she got a galleon for every time she'd said that throughout their relationship, she would have been rich even without the Malfoy fortune behind her.
"I do," Draco murmured. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment then kissed him softly. His lips followed her as she pulled away and she brought her thumb between them, gently stopping him from continuing the kiss.
"Wizards will always talk, Draco," she told him, reaching her free hand down to grab hold of his. "One day we'll have to face them. Might as well do it with our friends at our side."
Draco nodded, more to himself than in agreement with Hermione. He pulled away a second later and looked down at Hermione with worry still on his face. Hermione gave his hand a strong squeeze and he smiled before apparating them both to just outside of Hogwarts. Just as Hermione expected, though, Draco dropped her hand before she could fully recover from the side-along apparation.
"I'll follow you in," he promised. Hermione just nodded, kissing his cheek before walking calmly into the castle in search of her old friends.
It wasn't news to anyone that Hermione Granger had gone and become wildly successful. From her first job as Minister Shacklebot's personal assistant (he insisted, and who was Hermione to turn down such a job?), Hermione had made headlines. Her face had only become more familiar as she started a program to integrate the muggle Ministry and the Ministry of Magic. With both the British Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic working closely together, muggle and magic incidents had decreased. Not only was the program wildly successful, but it was also met with open arms when the wizarding community was introduced to muggle technology.
So yes, Hermione Granger had become a familiar name in both muggle and wizard newspapers since she'd last been seen at Hogwarts, but despite the regular press conferences she spoke for, she was not well adjusted to the attention that came from such a job. She tended to ignore it when walking around Diagon Alley or other places she was likely to be spotted, but stepping into the Great Hall and being stared at was a whole different story.
"Hermione!"
She turned quickly to see Ginny Potter waving wildly at her from the nearest table. Without thinking, she rerouted to join the Potters and the rest of the Weasleys with a wide grin.
"Blimey, it's been years, 'Mione!" George exclaimed, hugging her before she was pulled into a hug by Ron and Harry. George messed her perfectly smoothed hair as he let her go, but Hermione didn't mind leaving her ponytail in a bit of a mess for the moment. She was so used to keeping her long hair tied back, she'd done it up just for the familiarity.
"How's the integration program going?" Ron asked her, stepping back so she could breathe before Lavender was hugging her a moment later.
"Rather well, actually," Hermione answered, smiling at Lavender as she took a step back. "I had a bit of a time getting the weekend off, but I'm sure everyone will live."
"I can't believe it's been actual years since we've said more than a simple 'hi'," Harry said, throwing his arm around Hermione's shoulders.
"That's what happens when you move to France to take a Head Auror post," Ron teased. Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione laughed. She'd been sad when Harry had left five years ago, but she hadn't thought about it too much afterward since she'd been busy with both Ministries.
"You didn't have to follow me," Harry teased back. It had been no surprise that Ron had joined Harry in France. In fact, Hermione was shocked it took a week for Ron to follow.
"How is France, by the way?" Hermione asked.
They quickly fell into a familiar way of conversation: Harry and Ron fighting to talk over the other while Hermione tried to make sense of it. Every now and then, Ginny or Lavender would throw something in or start an entirely new conversation so that by the time Luna appeared, Hermione could feel the beginnings of a headache. It had been quite some time since she'd seen her rambunctious group of friends and the lack of sleep from the previous night made it harder than usual.
"Hello," Luna said dreamily. Beside her, Neville was grinning widely and hugging everyone else. "Where's your husband, Hermione?" Luna asked sweetly, looking around the group.
Everyone paused in their own separate conversations to look at Hermione who was trying very hard not to turn red. Luna looked around the group once more before looking up at Hermione.
"Hermione's not married," Ron supplied uselessly. Luna frowned at this and looked down. It took Hermione only a split second to realised Luna was reaching for her left hand where her silver wedding band was.
"But she has such a lovely ring," Luna pointed out, looking very closely at Hermione's ring. The ring itself wasn't very flashy which was something Hermione had insisted on when she and Draco got married. It had three very small diamonds embedded in the band and a small inscription on the back, but other than that, it wasn't fancy.
"You got married?" Ginny gasped, snatching Hermione's hand away from Luna and looking at the ring. Lavender crowded in around her as well and Hermione looked up at Harry and Ron who seemed just as intrigued.
"It wasn't really a wedding," Hermione explained when Ginny demanded to know why she hadn't been invited. "It was very small with only four others aside from Kingsley. We didn't want the papers getting wind of it."
"How have they not noticed your ring though?" Lavender asked. Hermione had put a very strong Notice-Me-Not charm on it the morning after the wedding specifically to keep the papers from finding out about it.
"Very wise," Luna hummed, staring at the ring. "It should keep the nibblers from stealing it too."
"So, back to Luna's question," Ginny said pointedly, dropping Hermione's hand as she asked, "Where's your husband?"
Hermione really didn't want to tell them. Not when Ron was already glowering at every guy who walked by and Ginny looked ready to bully him. Luna was the only one who Hermione felt would be entirely accepting of Draco. With the way Draco had spent almost two weeks worrying about this reunion, Hermione really didn't want to subject him to her friends' criticism.
She was about to lie and say he wasn't there, but she'd clearly been staring at Draco too long because Harry twisted around to see who she was staring at.
"Where is he?" Harry asked, looking over the group of Slytherins just like Hermione thought he would. "I swear, Hermione, I didn't even know you were dating, let alone planning on getting married," he chuckled. He glanced down at her as he smiled and said, "The last person you told me you'd gone out with at all was Malfoy."
The lie Hermione had been forming died on her tongue when Harry laughed at his own memory. His laugh died just as quickly, however, when he saw the worried look on her face. It seemed only Harry understood what he'd just realised because while he stared at her with wide eyes, everyone else wanted to know what was wrong.
"That's who you married, isn't it?" he said quietly. Hermione gave a small nod and watched Harry fight the urge to look back at Draco. "And he's good for you?"
"He's wonderful, Harry," Hermione said, a small smile forming on her face as she glanced behind him to where Draco was laughing with his friends.
"Does Harry know who she married now?" Ron asked Ginny, distracting Hermione from her quiet conversation with Harry. "That's not fair!"
"You just gotta look where they were looking!" Ginny hissed at him, pointing to the group behind them.
Draco chose that moment to turn and look at them. Hermione locked eyes with him and frowned as she watched his laughter die and his face go blank.
"Who were they looking at?" Ron asked, clearly trying to peer around the group of Slytherins. "All I see is Malfoy, Zabini, and Parkinson. Oh great, Nott and Greengrass are joining them now."
"Daphne?" Hermione exclaimed without thinking.
At the sound of her name, Daphne Greengrass—now Daphne Nott—looked away from her son. She made eye contact with Hermione and grinned, sending Jamison to join Blaise and Pansy while she made her way to Hermione. Hermione ignored the several questions Ron and Ginny threw at Harry and instead made a hasty escape.
"Have you told them yet?" Daphne asked as she pulled Hermione in for a tight hug.
"Harry figured it out," Hermione murmured, pulling away and glancing at her friends. "The others don't know yet."
"Just tell them," Daphne insisted. Hermione sighed but before she could stop her, Daphne was waving at Harry and Luna. She stepped away and Hermione barely missed her hand when she tried to pull her back. "Hello!" Daphne called to them.
As Harry and Luna slowly pulled her own friend group closer towards the Slytherin one, Hermione wished her hair was bushy enough to hide behind rather than in a sleek ponytail.
"Twenty galleons says one of them passes out," Blaise said from behind her. Hermione turned to give him a look but Theo was already placing bids on who he thought would be the first to yell.
"Harry already knows," Hermione told them, making the betting pool adjust slightly.
Behind her, Hermione felt Draco step closer. He wasn't within reach yet, but she could feel his presence behind her and knew he wanted to leave immediately.
"I didn't know you were friends with Parkinson," Ron said, eyeing Pansy warily. Pansy didn't spare him a glance, disappearing with Theo and Daphne's son when he tugged on her sleeve.
"Yes, she's actually the Integration Program's personal reporter," Hermione answered.
As Ron looked over the group behind her with a disapproving gaze, Hermione was suddenly very glad for the years of experience working with unhappy people. After a year of dealing with Rita Skeeter alone while working for the Ministry, Hermione had gained exceptional people skills.
"What about the others?" Ron asked, his eyes stopping on Draco behind her. His lip curled back ever so slightly and Hermione fought the urge to step in front of Draco protectively. "Do they still hang out with Death Eaters?" Ron spat.
The quiet betting behind her grew silent and Hermione glared fiercely at Ron. This time, she didn't resist moving more protectively in front of Draco.
"It's been years, Ron," Lavender said gently, patting his arm and trying to direct his attention away from where he was still glaring at Draco. "Perhaps they've changed."
Ron muttered something under his breath and Hermione knew she wouldn't have wanted to understand it. When he looked back up at her, he was very pointedly not looking at Draco.
"So where's your husband?" he asked, glancing at Draco when he shifted behind Hermione. Ron took a step towards her as he said, "I know Harry knows who it is, so why don't you introduce the rest of us?"
"I don't want to anymore," Hermione told him. She took a step back so she was standing beside Blaise and could almost feel Draco's body heat. "If you can't accept I've befriended Blaise, Daphne, and Theo, how can I be sure you'll be nice to my husband?"
"I think I'd rather like to meet him," Luna said kindly, smiling at Draco and Blaise as she spoke. "Perhaps Ron can go get more cider."
"Come on, Hermione," Ron groaned, nodding back towards where George and Angelina were talking with Oliver Wood. "Leave the Slytherins and enjoy the reunion."
"Ron," Harry butted in. Ron looked from Harry to Ginny who was cooing sweetly at Theo Nott's baby. Theo was very proudly wearing a muggle baby sling to carry his daughter and Ginny looked absolutely enthralled by her dark hair.
"She's friends with these wankers," Ron whined. Hermione shot him a dark look and Ginny pulled away from the youngest Nott child.
"Ron, you can't expect her to not be friends with Draco's friends," she said, wiggling a finger in front of baby Nott's face. "We left her five years ago. Of course, she'll share friends with her husband."
Ginny caught Harry's look of panic a second too late and was instead looking at Ron's shocked expression. Hermione's hand darted behind her to grab Draco's and he was quick to lace their fingers together. Clearly Harry hadn't accounted for Ginny's lack of filter when he'd told her on their short walk over.
"Wait," Ron said slowly. He turned from Ginny to look at Hermione before slowly asking, "Draco Malfoy is the git you married?"
Hermione nodded once, but that was all Ron needed. He looked quickly at Harry, clearly not sure how to proceed from there. Harry wasn't much help as he looked very worried himself.
"If it's any help," Harry offered weakly, "He's really quite good for her."
Ron gave him a strange look.
"How would you know that?" he asked. Harry shrugged uselessly before quietly telling Ron he'd asked Hermione himself.
"They started dating a few months before we left for France," Harry said.
Hermione didn't have the heart to tell Harry she'd actually only told him about Draco after a year of secrets. The two hadn't wanted to cause a big fuss with their friends, so they'd waited then made it sound as casual as possible when the time to tell their friends did come. Hermione just hadn't told Ron because Harry hadn't sounded all that excited about the idea.
Ron looked back at Hermione then glanced behind her at Draco without glaring.
"You better not hurt her," he told Draco. Hermione rolled her eyes, but Draco seemed to take it more as a joke than a threat.
"I'll try not too," he replied. Hermione twisted around to look up at Draco and found him smirking at Ron. Rather than tell him off for teasing Ron, she smiled and leaned back against his chest in relief. Obviously, it could have gone better, but at least no one had thrown a curse.
"Does this mean we have to invite Potter and Weasel to game nights?" Blaise asked, startling Hermione with how close to her ear he was. She scowled at him but Blaise just grinned.
"If it means I get to see Ophelia, then yes," Ginny said, still playing with Theo's daughter. "We'll be arriving by apparation five minutes early."
"Don't ever tell them when game night is," Draco told Hermione, loud enough Ginny could hear him. She looked away from Ophelia just long enough to glare at Draco before promptly returning.
"Thank you for being okay with this," Hermione muttered to Ron while Blaise told Ginny when and where the next game night would be.
"I'm not, but I'll try to be," Ron grumbled, side-eyeing Draco as he spoke. "Are you sure he's good for you?"
Hermione looked up at Draco. Tucked against his side with his arm around her stomach, Hermione honestly believed she could never say no. The way his laugh rumbled in his chest and his fingers tickled her side, Hermione couldn't help but smile at him.
"Yeah," she told Ron, looking away from Draco's smile. "I'm sure."